Fifteen-year-old
West Grayer lives in the city of Kersh where only the best citizens are
allowed to have good jobs, marriage, and families. In fact, only the
best citizens are allowed to live. Ruled by the Board, a dangerous game
has been created where only the strongest, and smartest survive into
adulthood.

In
Kersch, every baby is assigned a twin, a genetic Alternate version
created by the Board and raised by another family. Each Alt must prove
their worth as a citizen by hunting down and killing their Alt by their
twentieth birthday. West has just received her activation assignment-she
has one month to hunt down and complete her kill.

For
the most part I enjoyed Elsie Chapman’s debut novel Dualed. It was
fast paced, suspenseful, with good action sequences, and a small amount
of romance. And yes, I did find it thought-provoking; I couldn’t help
but wonder how awful it would be to live in society where you knew two
of you existed and only one of you could survive. That every young adult
is trained to be a murderer. What’s even worse, every child growing up
with the fear of knowing that there is another version of them-waiting
to kill them.

Although
I could empathize with West about how terrible her situations was, I
had trouble understanding the need for her to become a Striker, which basically is an assassin. In fact,
once she became a Striker, I really didn’t care for her as much anymore.
Fighting for your survival against your Alt is one thing, but becoming an assassin for hire is
another. Becoming an Striker (assassin) just seemed out of character for West, and really didn't seem to have anything to do with the main plot of the story nor advance it.

Whereas
I didn’t care as much for the protagonist West, I thought Chord, the main supporting character, was very likeable. I thought Elsie Chapman did a great job portraying his strengths and weaknesses. Even though Chord was strong and smart, I had no trouble identifying with him. His fear and concern for
West, along with his obvious love for her, made him seem a much more
genuine and realistic character.

I
enjoyed Dualed’s intriguing storyline, and thought it was a unique young adult Dystopian. The great action scenes and suspense kept me turning the pages. What I would have liked from the book was better characterization of the protagonist West, a little more world-building, and further development of West and Chords relationship. It will be interesting to seeing what Ms. Chapman has in store for us in book two.

My Rating: 3 Stars

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